CONTACT:
Rick
Whitaker
212
854 1623
THE ITALIAN ACADEMY FOR ADVANCED
STUDIES AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESENTS ITS
FALL 2009 CONCERT SERIES
OCT 7: EMANUELE TORQUATI, piano
NOV 4: MIRANDA CUCKSON, violin
DEC 2: ALEX LIPOWSKI, percussion
FREE ADMISSION
AT 8:00 PM
IN THE TEATRO OF THE ITALIAN ACADEMY
1161 AMSTERDAM AVENUE, NYC
Programs will feature works by Scelsi,
Janacek, Saariaho, Rihm, Messiaen, and Harvey, Donatoni, Gervasoni, Busoni,
Hurel, Billone, Francesconi, and Ferneyhough along with premieres by
Gianluca Verlingieri and Raven
Chacon
New
York, NY— July 23, 2009 — The Fall 2009 concert series at Columbia
UniversityÕs Italian Academy for Advanced Studies will present three recitals by
leading proponents of contemporary music. Admission to the Fall 2009 concerts
is free. Call Rick Whitaker at 212 854 1623 or email rw2115@columbia.edu for more information.
The Italian Academy is located at 1161 Amsterdam Avenue between 116th
and 118th Streets.
The
programs will be as follows:
October 7, Emanuele Torquati, piano
Scelsi - Quattro Illustrazioni sulle metamorfosi di Visnu'
Janacek - In the mist
Saariaho - Ballade
Rihm - Klavierstuck 7
Messiaen - Le courlis cendre
Harvey - Tombeau de Messiaen for piano and soundrack
November
4, Miranda Cuckson, violin and viola
With
Blair McMillen, piano
Francesco Maria Veracini: Sonata No. 11 in E Major
Franco Donatoni: Ciglio III
Stefano Gervasoni: Tornasole
Busoni: Sonata No. 1, Op. 29
December
2, Talea Ensemble, Alex Lipowski, percussion
With
Steve Beck, piano
Philippe
Hurel: Tombeau in Memoriam G. Grisey
Pierluigi Billone: Mani.Mono
Luca Francesconi: Mambo
Brian Ferneyhough: Bone Alphabet
Gianluca Verlingieri: (New work) *premiere
The recipient of several
Italian and international awards, Emanuele Torquati has
performed extensively throughout Europe, United States and Canada, giving solo
recitals in such diverse cities as Banff, New York, Chicago, Vancouver, Boston,
Lyon, Metz, Leipzig, Prague, Munich, Graz, Milan and Rome. He is a notable
performer of new music and enjoys a diverse and varied career as a pianist.
In March 2008 he was artist
in residence at The Banff Centre with the project ÒVoyage MessiaenÓ. Highlights of the
2009 season include the American Tour with cellist Francesco Dillon and the
Debut of Degenerated Music Project at ILHMEC Chicago as well as various first
performances, among others a new work by Siemens Prize laureate Miroslav Srnka.
He has worked intensively with leading composers including Sylvano
Bussotti, Wolfgang Rihm, Kaija Saariaho, Beat Furrer, Jonathan Harvey, Brett
Dean and he has collaborated with musicians such as Michael Gielen, Roberto
Fabbriciani, Liliana Poli, Susanne Linke, Krater Ensemble and FontanaMIX.
His activity has been
supported by Institutions such as Federazione CEMAT, Accademia Musicale
Chigiana, DAAD Bonn, Ambassade de France en Italie,UniversitŠt fŸr Musik und Darstellende Kunst Graz, International
Ensemble Modern Academy.
Torquati was born in Milan in
1978. His most influential teachers were Giancarlo Cardini and Konstantin
Bogino. He also worked closely with Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Nicholas Hodges,
Ian Pace, Michael Wendeberg. He went on to specialize in Chamber Music first
with Franco Rossi, then he achieved a Master Degree at the International
Chamber Music Academy of the Trio di Trieste.
Sought
after as a soloist and chamber musician in a wide range of repertoire,
violinist/violist Miranda Cuckson has
appeared internationally as soloist with many orchestras, including her 2008 debut with the Jerusalem Symphony conducted by Leon Botstein.
Her CD recording with the Czech National Symphony of concertos by Korngold and
Ponce was released by Centaur Records to much praise. She subsequently made
three recital CDs of twentieth-century American music for Centaur: lauded disks
of music by Ralph Shapey, Donald Martino, and Ross Lee Finney, for which she
was awarded grants from the Copland and Ditson Funds. Her upcoming recording
projects include another Copland-funded CD of Shapey's violin music, and the
solo violin works of Michael Hersch for Vanguard Classics. Ms. Cuckson made her
recital debut at Carnegie's Weill Hall as winner of the Presser Music Award.
She has performed at such venues as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Library of
Congress, Zankel Hall, Miller Theatre, 92nd Street Y, Phillips
Collection, Guggenheim Museum, Bargemusic, Los Angeles County Museum of Art,
and the Marlboro, Bridgehampton, Bodensee, Salon des Arts Sofia, and Lincoln
Center festivals. A passionate champion of new music, she is involved in groups
including the Argento Chamber Ensemble, counter(induction, ACME, and
Sequitur, and she has worked with composers such as Henri Dutilleux, Elliott
Carter, John Adams, Salvatore Sciarrino, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Mario
Davidovsky. Her upcoming events include the world premiere of a work for violin
and ensemble by Jeffrey Mumford, and a Composers Portrait concert at Miller
Theatre of Shapey's music, for which she will be artistic director. Following
her recent performance of Elliott CarterÕs Duo for violin and piano at the
Library of Congress in Washington, DC, the McKim Fund commissioned composer
Harold Meltzer to write her a sonata, to be premiered at the Library for the
50th anniversary of Fritz Kreisler's death. Ms. Cuckson studied at The
Juilliard School, where her teachers included Robert Mann, Dorothy DeLay, and
Felix Galimir, and she recently received her doctorate. She teaches at Mannes
The New School for Music.
An
advocate of contemporary music, percussionist Alex Lipowski has performed in ensembles such as the Second
Instrumental Unit, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Janus Trio,
Argento Ensemble, is a co-director of the Talea Ensemble, and the newest member
of the Timetable Percussion Trio. He has been seen on concert stages throughout
North America, South America, Europe and Asia. As a soloist and chamber
musician he has premiered works by Denisov, Zorn, Malpica, and Lunsqui. Other recent collaborations include
working with the Columbia Composers Ensemble and the Latin American composers
group, altaVoz. While on tour with the East Coast Composers Ensemble in 2007,
Lipowski presented guest lectures at the University of Virginia Commonwealth
and a lecture on the music of Georges Aperghis at Denver State College. In the
past, Lipowski has served as the director of the Juilliard Pierrot Ensemble and
Duo Maintenant with whom he commissioned works extensively for french horn and
percussion. In 2006, he was featured with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble on
NPR's Performance Today. During the summer of 2007 he toured with Pierre Boulez
through Europe and then to Japan performing Boulez's work, sur Incises. During
the same summer he served as Artist-Faculty at the Great Mountains Music
Festival in South Korea. He has recorded works by Alexandre Lunsqui with the
Argento Ensemble and can be heard on the Living Artists Label with the Talea
Ensemble.